


let this be the way we remember us

by borrowthemoonlight



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Leavers Ball, Young hicsqueak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 15:52:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14697417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowthemoonlight/pseuds/borrowthemoonlight
Summary: Her mind is swimming, so it’s a terrible thing for her to do, to perform magic when she is not nearly as focused as she should be. Her mind thinks of the security of her bedroom, as she stomps down the thought of everyone looking at her, laughing at her, and then she thinks of Pippa. Pippa wouldn’t laugh at her. Pippa would be her security around all of those people. And she’s already started the spell but now she thinks only of Pippa, wants only to be with Pippa. And then-





	let this be the way we remember us

**Author's Note:**

> the leavers ball fic i've been meaning to finish for a month that nobody actually asked for, thanks for reading!

The moon is just about risen when Hecate decides she’s going. She’s been dressed and ready, been sat, been pacing, been pondering for the last hour about whether she should or not. She’s taken her hair down and put it back up again about a thousand times and she’s even changed her dress once or twice. Her mind restless at the thought of hundreds of eyes all on her, not that she thinks anyone will care enough to look, but still, they _might_. And the more she thinks about it the dizzier she feels. 

Eventually she settles on her original choice. The fabric a delicate, yet striking silver, long enough that the rim pools on the floor when she’s not wearing her shoes. It’s a slim fit, with long, daringly transparent sleeves and an uncharacteristically lowcut back. It’s this that makes Hecate take her hair down so often. She feels the need to cover up. She does like the cut of the dress, it’s just she would feel much more comfortable if it was a bit more subtle. Her hair could help her with that. The dilemma then however, what makes her put her hair back up as soon as it settles down her back, is that no one sees Hecate with her hair down. Not for long periods of time anyway. Except for Pippa, that is. Pippa sees it like that all the time. Insists that it is like that almost every time they are alone together. But it’s okay then, because it’s Pippa. 

She finally decides on hair down. Puts it up once more and twirls slowly in her mirror, just to be sure it’s the right choice. Yes. Hair down. 

But something’s still not quite right and she curls her fingers into her palms in frustration. Why? Why can’t she just feel comfortable the way she is? Why does the presence of other people affect her so much? She sits down on the bed once more, deciding, once more, that she’s not going. 

And then an idea sparks and soon she’s summoning her best and most pointy hat. It’s blacker than black and very soft to touch, made of the finest fabric. It’s one of the most elegant and most elaborate things she owns and within a spell it’s suddenly the same silver as her dress. A perfect match, which sits so regally on her head. It keeps her hair close, keeps some of it hidden, keeps it secure. She lets out a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat concealed. She is going. 

When she transfers to just outside of the ballroom, her stomach flips. Everyone is there. Everyone looks happy and many are dancing. And Hecate can’t bring herself to walk in, to draw any kind of attention to herself. Anxiety won’t stop rising in her stomach at the thought of eyes, all on her, at the thought of being a disturbance to their happiness. She shouldn’t be there, it’s not her thing anyway, it’s not like she’ll be missing out on anything, not really. 

Her mind is swimming, so it’s a terrible thing for her to do, to perform magic when she is not nearly as focused as she should be. Her mind thinks of the security of her bedroom, as she stomps down the thought of everyone looking at her, laughing at her, and then she thinks of Pippa. Pippa wouldn’t laugh at her. Pippa would be her security around all of those people. And she’s already started the spell but now she thinks only of Pippa, wants only to be with Pippa. And then-

She hears the sound of glass shattering before she’s properly steady on the new ground beneath her feet. She stays stiff on the spot, feels her mouth going dry, feels absolutely sick. _Right_ in the middle of the dance floor. That’s where she had to reappear. She curses herself. _Why_. It’s so much worse than anything she’d been imagining earlier. All eyes definitely are on her now. And they look confused. She thinks some even look disgusted. Some are even- _oh_. Some are even smiling. Laughing at her maybe? She doesn’t really know because she soon focuses her attention back to the sound of the glass smashing. It’s only a few meters away from where she stands. She looks down at the shards on the floor, before her eyes rise up the golden figure who she assumes held the glass moments earlier. 

It’s Pippa. And Pippa is staring at Hecate, lips parted slightly and eyes wide. When Hecate can only look back at her, heart now racing from more than just her silly mistake of a spell, Pippa snaps out of it. Realises what she’s done and quickly repairs the glass. Within a moment it sits on the table next to her.

And then the world starts moving again and everyone seems to forget Hecate is even there. Thank goodness. Not Pippa, however, who makes her way over to Hecate, looking her up and down as she does, smiling so sweetly.

“You look stunning, Hiccup.” She beams and Hecate can’t quite tell if she’s blushing, and she wants to tell Pippa that she looks brighter than the morning sun, absolutely beautiful, positively breathtaking, with her dazzling gold dress shimmering against her slightly less golden skin. But Pippa continues. “I didn’t think you would show, I was going to come and find you.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t have been necessary. I would’ve been quite alright on my own.” Hecate says, terribly aware of the state of her hair when Pippa reaches out to drag her fingers down through it, smiling like it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, or felt. And although the sight of Pippa is making her heart race ridiculously fast, she manages to feel a wave of calm wash over her. Pippa likes her hair like this.

“Maybe so. But I would not have.” Hecate looks at her, confused, and Pippa giggles and shakes her head. “Honestly, like I could spend a whole night surrounded by these people all by myself. Trying to find even a hint of intellectual conversation, it would be much too exhausting.”

She’s barely finished her words before Lucy Loudnewt comes over to them and Pippa knowingly rolls her eyes at Hecate, making her supress a giggle. And Pippa doesn’t really mean it. She’s just teasing for the sake of their conversation. Lucy is a friend of sorts. But still, not someone Pippa finds it easy to hold a conversation with. Not someone Pippa can tell all her secrets to. Not like Hecate.

Lucy brushes her hand over Pippa’s arm and Hecate instantly envies her. It’s ridiculous and she knows that she can touch Pippa’s arm too, if she wants to, she’s almost certain Pippa wouldn’t mind, would even respond gladly, but something always tells her not to.

“Hecate, I didn’t expect to see you here. It must be because I’m so used to seeing your nose stuck in a spell book.” Lucy says, smiling but sounding less than friendly, reminding Hecate again why she should not be here. “You look different. In a good way, of course.” She almost sniggers. Hecate gives a small smile and utters a thank you and then wonders if Pippa can see what she sees.

“She’s stunning, isn’t she?” Pippa beams, brushing Hecate’s arm the way Lucy had done to her own, making Hecate’s heart speed up again and her muscles tense.

“Quite.” Lucy replies, dryly. “But look at you, you look just magnificent, Pip. Doesn’t she look magnificent, Hecate?” 

“Breathtaking.” Hecate whispers in immediate response, eyes suddenly growing wide at the words that she so easily allowed to spill from her mouth. But still, she quickly looks at Lucy and smiles like nothing is wrong, not daring to look at Pippa’s reaction to her frivolous words. Lucy looks livid, it’s so clearly visible through her fake smile and overly nice tone of voice and Hecate wants nothing more than to escape the situation.

She zones out. She’s feeling too much towards the current situation. She lets Pippa and Lucy talk, as she admires the ballroom décor especially done for tonight. It’s not hideous. Actually, it’s quite lovely. There are garlands of flowers strung up and warmly lit lanterns enchanted to float high above. The tables that rim around the circular dance floor each have their own lanterns that sit on deep purple fabric and the dance floor itself appears to have a subtle purple shimmer when the light hits. Her eyes dance around the room and she can feel Pippa looking at her. She’s still talking to Lucy but her eyes glance back and forth between them both. Hecate matches Pippa’s eyes for half a second. And the look in them is so soft and so warm, Hecate feels the overwhelming need to touch her, or at least be closer to her, or-

_No one wants you here._

Hecate’s eyes dart to Lucy, who’s looking right at her. She’s so concentrated. Looks as though she’s trying to kill Hecate with just her stare. 

_Pippa doesn’t want you here. None of us like you. Why don’t you just leave? No one will even notice._

Hecate’s eyes narrow. Surely this isn’t a mind whispering spell. Surely Lucy, of all witches, would not have been given access to the restricted section of the library, let alone actually take the time and effort to learn the spell. She can barely turn a frog into a mouse.

_You can’t possibly think that Pippa cares about you. She pities you, Hecate. It’s the only reason she puts up with you, she’s too nice. So just go. Do the right thing for once and leave Pippa alone. She was having fun before you arrived._

“Lucy?” Pippa asks, seeing how fixated she is on Hecate.

“Sorry.” Lucy laughs, shaking her head and turning back to face Pippa. “I must’ve got lost in a daydream.”

_Leave._

“Excuse me.” Hecate mumbles, before heading off and out of the ballroom. When the outside breeze hits her face, she feels tears threatening to fall and she decides not to return to her room, instead she heads for the gardens. Her fists clench and she knows that Lucy was just trying to hurt her. Her tears do fall when she realises that it’s worked. 

She also knows that most of what Lucy said is not true. She knows it for certain. Lucy has no idea how many hours she and Pippa spend alone together, in their rooms, in the gardens, on the roof. Pippa enjoys Hecate’s company. But still, this is different. At the ball it is not just the two of them, it’s everyone. And maybe Pippa would like to spend time with her other friends, without the burden of Hecate clinging to her all night. Pippa is good at social interaction. Pippa likes talking to people. Hecate shouldn’t want to steal her attention all night.

The air prickles her face and when she reaches the gardens she stops and allows herself to breathe properly. And all of a sudden, she feels lonelier than ever. She should have just stayed in her room, she shouldn’t have gone to the ball at all. Maybe she’d still feel lonely, but at least she wouldn’t have made a fool of herself _twice_.

“Hiccup?” Comes Pippa’s soft voice as she emerges from behind the lavender bushes. 

“Yes. Sorry, I just wanted to be alone.” She lies, secretly so grateful that Pippa came after her.

“Was it Lucy?” Pippa asks, concern in her eyes, as she continues towards Hecate. 

“No.” She answers immediately. “No. I just needed to leave.”

“I saw the way she looked at you. It was horrid. I would’ve stopped talking to her, you didn’t need to leave.” Her voice is sympathetic, but it only makes Hecate feel more pathetic. Pippa shouldn’t have to stop talking to her other friends for her sake.

“I thought that maybe you’d want to spend time with your friends, without having me following you like a shadow.” 

“Hecate, you’re the only one I care about spending time with tonight, I couldn’t care less about the others. Tonight is a night to celebrate the journey we’ve had since school began and to celebrate the friends we’ve made. And they aren’t friends. Not really. Not like you.” Pippa is closer now, close enough that she takes Hecate’s hands in her own, gives her a reassuring look, making Hecate’s skin tingle at the contact and somehow, she almost feels okay again.

“But Lucy-“ She sighs, pulls her hands away and then immediately regrets it. 

She wants to tell Pippa, but she did not mean to start this sentence. She doesn’t want to sound like the timid person that she is. That she can’t handle meaningless words from a meaningless witch. 

“Lucy what?” 

“It’s my fault.” She tries brushing off the situation. “I let her inside my head and I shouldn’t have. I wasn’t focusing. It was an accident.”

“What did she say to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She faces away from Pippa in the hopes it will make it easier for her to say no.

But Pippa only moves closer again, reaches out and brushes her fingers against Hecate’s hand. “Please. It matters to me.” And Hecate has to give in, because it’s Pippa.

“She told me… she told me to- to do the right thing. And leave you alone.” She manages to say. Shrugging her shoulders, eyebrows raised, as if the situation really hasn’t affected her. 

“Oh, Hecate, you mustn’t believe what she said is true. Lucy is a two faced toad. I’ve always thought so.” Pippa says it like it’s the worst insult she can think of, though Hecate knows she could’ve said far worse. “I can hardly believe a witch like her would even know that spell.”

“I just didn’t want to ruin your night.” 

“You weren’t and you haven’t.” Pippa says, placing a hand on Hecate’s shoulder, looking at her as if to repeat her words with only her eyes.

And then suddenly she’s marching past Hecate, further into the gardens until she exits through a large stone archway, Hecate following swiftly behind when she realises she’s probably supposed to.

Pippa stops in a cluster of trees by the lake and before Hecate can ask what they’re doing there, the leaves above them begin to glow at Pippa’s command. 

“I knew I’d have a reason to use that spell one day.” She smiles, admiring the soft gold light around them, before her hands move through the air once more and the flowers begin to sing a soft tune. It fits the setting perfectly and Hecate soon realises what she’s trying to do. “First things first.” She says, reaching her arm out to Hecate.

“I can’t.” Hecate replies, arms clinging around her waist, trying not to blush at the embarrassing thought.

“We can’t have a ball without dancing. Besides, I think you’re forgetting that I know you are an excellent dancer.” 

Hecate does blush then, at the memory Pippa is referring to. Eventually she smiles and unfurls her arms, reaching out to clasp Pippa’s hand in her own. When they’re close enough that their bodies almost touch, Hecate fears that Pippa will feel her heartbeat, even when there’s still distance between them.

“Wait.” Pippa, whispers, freeing their hands from each other as she tentatively lifts hers up to Hecate’s head. She watches to make sure that Hecate doesn’t flinch away or look uncomfortable, and she doesn’t, maybe just a bit confused. Slowly, she removes Hecate’s hat, vanishes it so that it sits on a rock close by. “Do you mind?”

She shakes her head and Pippa proceeds to run her fingertips through the ends of Hecate’s hair. The truth is that she feels a little bit overwhelmed by the intimacy of it all. Not just having Pippa’s hands so close to her face, but having their bodies so close they can feel each other’s breath on their skin and she feels guilt creeping up on her when she realises how much she wants to lean into Pippa and hug her, for as long as she possibly can.

Pippa places her hands on Hecate’s once more and guides them up to sit on her shoulders. Her own hands barely touch Hecate’s waist before she’s asking, “Is this okay?” And she holds onto them more firmly when Hecate nods and says yes.

They sway to the music and Hecate finds it’s not as uncomfortable as she imagined it would be. She’s terribly aware of Pippa’s hands on her hips, but the feeling it nice. It makes her magic dance up and down her waist, almost constricting her stomach, but nonetheless she does not wish the feeling away.

“I can’t believe it’s nearly all over. I think I’d began to believe we’d be here forever.”

“I know.” Hecate murmurs, the sudden fear of the future causing a knot in her throat.

“We will still see each other, won’t we? Even if we’re going to different universities?” Pippa asks, a soft and yet concerned expression on her face. They’ve talked about it a million times already, but the uncertainty of the future makes them want to be certain about at least one thing. That they will remain in each other’s lives.

The question makes her stomach drop. The thought of not seeing Pippa once they leave school is one that terrifies Hecate more than perhaps anything. The thought of living away from her at a separate university breaks her heart too. She just wishes that time could stand still for a while. Everything is okay as it is right at this very moment. She doesn’t want anything to change. She wishes she had more time to just figure out how she feels. Because the truth is she has no idea. But what she does know is that she has to see Pippa still, no matter what. Pippa is who she loves and cares for most. Pippa is the only one who matters. Pippa is who she stays up late talking to. Pippa’s bed is where she often falls asleep on the nights it gets a little too late. She shares everything with Pippa. And maybe she hadn’t even quite realised it until now, but Pippa is everything to her.

“Of course.” She finally replies, realising that Pippa is a little closer than she remembers.

“I don’t know if I could cope with the rest of the world if I didn’t have you. No one else gets it.”

Hecate can’t quite explain what _it_ is, but she’s never agreed more with anything in her life. No one else gets it at all. There’s no one else who understands her. No one else she could willingly give so much of her time to. No one else she’d say yes to, to almost anything asked of her. No one else she could give a piece of her heart to without even realising. It was like one day she just woke up and felt that something was missing, only to feel complete again when Pippa was nearby. 

“You’ll make friends.” 

“But they won’t _be_ friends. I know I might make it look easy to fit in, but the truth is that I don’t actually fit in at all.” Pippa says, mouth only inches away from Hecate’s. “I only seem to fit with you.” She whispers. 

For a moment Hecate wishes more than anything that Pippa could read her thoughts. Or maybe if she knew the spell Lucy had used earlier it would make the words easier to say. Because she still wouldn’t have to say them, all she’d need to do is carry on thinking, _kiss me, kiss me kiss me_.

And somehow, Pippa gets it. Because somehow, the distance closes between them. And it is everything. It’s soft and it’s gentle and it’s magic and it’s _Pippa_. It’s all that Hecate has wanted for as long as she can remember and now she wonders how long Pippa has wanted it too. A while at least, she thinks, when she feels Pippa’s grip tighten just slightly, squeezing her hips.

When they break apart, Hecate doesn’t quite know what to do. She smiles and she’s ecstatic to see that Pippa smiles back. Pippa must have been nervous too, if she didn’t smile straight away. She must have worried at least a little bit about Hecate’s reaction. And Hecate decides that if Pippa can be brave then she can be brave now too.

She hugs Pippa. It’s the tiniest bit awkward at first, as she brings her arms down from Pippa’s shoulders to wrap securely around her waist. But then Pippa’s arms come up to wrap around Hecate’s shoulders and Hecate rests her head on her. She feels warm and she feels safe. She feels Pippa beneath her hands, as her thumb brushes over her back. She feels Pippa rest her head on her own. And although she’s not ready to say goodbye to their lives at school, although she wishes this chapter was not ending just yet, she feels happy. 

“I’m going to miss you, Hiccup.” Pippa whispers, arms hugging Hecate tighter, keeping her close.

Hecate feels what she thinks is a tear escaping down her cheek. But she knows this is not a goodbye. She knows they’re still going to see each other and mirror each other all the time. And they still have their broomstick display and the whole summer and half terms and their whole lives ahead of them to spend together. This is not a goodbye. It’s just a chapter ending.

“I’m going to miss you too, Pipsqueak.”


End file.
